The present invention is in the area of telephone call processing and switching, and pertains more particularly to intelligent call-routing systems with Computer Telephony Integration (CTI).
At the time of filing the present patent application there continues to be remarkable growth in telephone-based information systems. Recently emerging examples are telemarketing operations and technical support operations, among many others, which have grown apace with development and marketing of, for example, sophisticated computer equipment. More traditional are systems for serving customers of such as large insurance organizations. In some cases organizations develop and maintain their own telephony operations with purchased or leased equipment, and in many other cases, companies are outsourcing such operations to firms that specialize in such services.
A relatively small technical support operation serves as an example in this specification of the kind of applications of telephone equipment and functions to which the present invention pertains and applies. Consider such a system having just one, or at most a few call-in centers, as opposed to a large organization having country-wide matrix of call-in centers. One of the differences that might be noticed in this example is that such a relatively small operation will be less likely to have an on-premises telephony switch, and would thus rely on an off-premises switch. In the patent applications listed above as related to the present application call-in centers were described having a telephony switch as a part of the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), and inventions are taught and claimed in those applications related to such relatively large-scale systems. In the present application an invention in various aspects is taught and claimed relative to call-in centers having no telephony switch as a part of the CPE.
It is generally known in the art to provide computer functions as a part of telephone switching equipment, although there are many inventions that have been patented relative to such functionality, and there are many patent applications pending related to such equipment, including the pending applications listed above. It is also known in some later technical development to integrate computers with telephony switches, and several such applications are known to the inventors and are disclosed and taught in the related patent applications to which reference has been made. Such computer enhancement is known in the art as Computer Telephone Integration (CTI), and is in the realm of CTI that the present invention also applies in a broad sense.
Very broadly speaking, it is desirable in the art wherever call-in centers are operated to provide quick and efficient service to callers (although this may not be always readily apparent to the callers, who still in most such systems find themselves stuck on hold in queues for long periods). There is nevertheless much inventive work being done to enhance and improved such systems, and much of this development is in the area of CTI, as might be expected. It is in this area that the present invention applies, and it is an object of the present invention to provide enhanced CTI functionality for call-in centers having no telephony switch as a part of the CPE, wherein calls are routed to telephones at such a call-in center by one or more telephony switches not a part of the CPE.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a telephony call-in center is provided, comprising a plurality of agent stations, individual ones of the agent stations having a telephone and a computer workstation, the telephone and computer workstation connected by a data link; a local area network (LAN) connecting at least some of the computer workstations at the agent stations; and a first computer processor including an instance of a telephony server (T-Server), the computer processor connected on the LAN and having access to a database. The computer workstation and telephone are adapted to share voice data over the data link.
In some embodiments the computer workstation is adapted to cause to be recorded at least portions of the voice data of telephone calls at the telephone connected to the workstation by the data link. Also in some embodiments the computer workstation transmits an audio version of the telephone call on the LAN to be recorded in a database connected to the LAN. In some embodiments call recording is managed by the T-Server. An input interface may be presented at the computer workstation, adapted for an agent to control recording of portions of telephone calls on a telephone connected to the computer workstation.
In some voice extensions provided the computer workstation is adapted to cause pre-recorded audio data to be played to a caller at the telephone connected to the computer workstation by data link, and the pre-recorded playback may be agent control. In yet other voice extensions the computer workstation is enhanced by a voice-recognition system adapted to respond to voice data retrieved from the telephone connected to the computer workstation by the data link. The voice data may be commands spoken by an agent at the connected telephone. In other instances the voice data may be spoken words or phrases by a caller, and automatic responses may be played in response to such words or phrases.
In an aspect of the invention an agent station for a call-in center is provided, comprising a computer workstation having a first communication port; a telephone having a telephone line port and a second communication port; and a communication link connecting the computer workstation and the telephone between the first and the second communication ports. The computer workstation and telephone are adapted to share voice data over the data link. The agent station in this aspect has attributes described above for a call-in center. Methods for practicing the invention are also described.